Hermione's Christmas at 12 Grimmauld Place
by boggartsnape
Summary: Hermione, Harry, Ron and the rest of the Weasleys spend Christmas at 12 Grimmauld Place. And Hermione finds unexpected comfort in a certain werewolf Professor and her best friend's Godfather. Sirius/Remus/Hermione. Smut in later chapters. *I'M SORRY. I've been so busy over Christmas and now I have exams, but once they're over, next week I'll be able to update. Lots of love :)*
1. Chapter 1

She let out a shiver as she stepped into 12 Grimmauld Place, shutting the large wooden door behind her, with the least noise possible. She wasn't sure for time but knew it was late, she had visited school to use the library before being caught up in conversation with the Patil twins, who were staying at Hogwarts for the Christmas holiday.

"Damn." she muttered as the door slammed. The last person she wanted to wake was Walburga, the portrait of Sirius' blood purity obsessed mother, who would often respond to loud noises and scream obscenities at every chance.

"Hermione?"

She was certain by now everyone would be in bed, and the gentle voice coming from the hall startled her, she lost her balance slightly, stumbling into the door only to see Lupin greeting her with a warm smile.

"I didn't mean to make you jump like that," he chuckled.

"It's fine Professor, I just didn't expect anyone to be up. " The clock on the wall caught her eye, it's hands pointing to quarter to 12.

"Ah I see," he said still smiling. "You look freezing, Hermione. May I offer you a hot chocolate?"

Still feeling embarrassed from letting him startle her, her cheeks flushed pink. "That would be lovely, Professor" she responded as she finished unbuttoning her coat.

She followed him down the dark hallway, lit only by glowing gas lamps. She took a seat at the table in the centre of the kitchen.

He passed her a mug of hot chocolate and sat on the seat opposite to her. His hazel eyes locking with her golden ones as she sipped from the mug, the hot drink burning her lips. "Sirius was getting rather concerned, you know," he said, stirring his hot chocolate. "I told him there was no need to worry but he didn't listen," he chuckled fondly. "What took you back to school over the holidays then?" He questioned.

She swallowed her drink, "The library. I had asked Harry and Ron to come too but they..." her mind flicked to the incident this morning, before she had decided to go by herself, when Ron had called her 'boring', it was a mistake and she knew that, Ron said a lot of idiotic things before he could think but it irritated her all the same. "Didn't seem too kean, so I went by myself this morning..." she sighed. "Where is Sirius?"

"Ah, I know that feeling all too well, although I learnt to enjoy going by myself as I realised you couldn't possibly take James and Sirius somewhere as quiet and peaceful as the library and expect them to behave themselves." He smiled fondly at the memory. "Sirius is, I believe to be in the shower." He paused. "I just hope to Merlin, for your sake and for mine that he will remember he has visitors staying and have the decency to cover himself when he gets out."

The thought of Sirius in the shower, or waltzing into the kitchen any minute with no clothes on filled her mind. She felt her cheeks heat up as if she'd just eaten some Fever Fudge the Weasley twins had made, she struggled to keep her cheeks from flushing pink. "O-Oh, right. Well I suppose I should be getting to bed now anyway, Professor. Thank you for the hot chocolate, it was lovely." She said rushingly.

"No bother, Hermione. Hot chocolate is also my weak point." His eyes twinkled. "But do stay if you wish, I enjoy your company. The only person I spend all that much time with now is Sirius and he, while he's good company I do often wonder if he's capable of a mature conversation."

"Well it is nice to know you enjoy my company." she bit her lip, "I'm afraid I've been getting on Harry and Ron's nerves this holiday." She let out a small sigh. "But I must be getting to bed soon, I had planned on getting up early and visiting the library again."

OH GOD she was enjoying spending time with him but knew she had to get back to her room, since the mentioning of Sirius showering she had started to feel mildly flustered. Or was it simply from the friendly company of her old Professor? She didn't know which but knew she enjoyed both thoughts.

"The library again, Hermione?" he smiled, "you could always check the library here, Sirius doesn't use it but there's a lot of old books that might interest you, there's many first editions too. I can show you, if you like. Sirius wouldn't mind."

"That would be lovely Professor-" she smiled and pushed a strand of her long wavy hair out of her face.

His hazel eyes brightened up, "Brilliant, and Hermione, feel free to call me Remus."

"MERLIN!"

Remus and Hermione turned their heads and their eyes met a tall man of a fairly muscular build, stood in the doorway. His shoulder length dark hair was damp and he was wrapped in just a towel, exposing his well toned torso and abdomen. _Merlin, he looked so appealing_, Hermione thought to herself.

"Hermione!" Sirius exclaimed. "I wondered where you were, Harry told me you had gone back to _school _in the _holidays?!_ I almost didn't believe him, but I had all sorts of worries going through my mind" he said.

"Sirius she would have been fine regardless! Hogwarts is as safe as safe, you know that." Remus said.

"Yeah right," he lowered his voice "with all those leering, sneaky death eaters Dumbledore employs?" he muttered.

Remus rolled his eyes, "Don't be childish Sirius, you are basing that off of one man, who Albus seemingly has a lot of trust in."

Hermione knew they were referring to Professor Snape. Hmm, she remembered how Sirius had interacted with him the first time they met him in the shrieking shack, it was clear that Sirius detested Severus but he had a point when he commented on their ability to quarrel like an old married couple.

Hermione giggled, the two men stared at her confused for a moment or two before Sirius piped up "why are we laughing?" he grinned.

Hermione noticed Remus' brow furrow as if he was trying to work out why she could have been laughing. "Put some clothes on Sirius." Remus said.

"In a minute Moony, don't be a prude. Is that why you were giggling Hermione?" He asked, smirking cheekily.

She scarcely managed to contain yet another giggle at the sight of him, stood in the kitchen in nothing but a towel, "I-I, well no... I was laughing at you two. Quarrelling like an old married couple."

Sirius grinned again and proceeded to shake his head in a fashion that could only remind Hermione of a dog shaking it's wet fur, "Sirius!" shouted Remus, "Stop it, go and put some clothes on." Hermione's eyes began to wander and she found herself taking what she knew was probably her last chance to see him like this, and noticed how attractive his chest was, she was sure he must work out, maybe he got toned from running around in his Animagus form she wondered. His chest showed a few tattos, which she found to be very attractive, she imagined how it would be to trace her fingers over the tattoos.

"I was going to show Hermione the library, why don't you meet us in there after you've put some clothes on." Suggested Remus.

Sirius glanced at Remus, and then glanced at Hermione, his eyes were sparkling, filled with mischief. "Ooh! Professor Moony is taking the dashing Miss Granger into my private, secluded library in the middle of the night?" He eyed the mugs that Remus was putting into the cupboard, "And may I ask, what have you two been drinking?"

Hermione turned scarlet, Sirius had found a way to embarrass her or make her giggle with almost every sentence in the past 5 minutes spent in his company.

"Oh come off it Padfoot, she just wanted to look at the books and may I note that I'm no longer her Professor. And just hot chocolate, I heard her arrive and thought a hot drink would warm her up."

"You two are sneaking around library's for the sake of books? This late?" Hermione noticed his nose turn up, "I knew you were a boring bookworm Remus but Hermione seems a bit more fun. You gave the lady hot chocolate? Oh Moony." He sighed. "I'll meet you two in the library in 5 minutes then." He winked before he walked out the room and they heard his footsteps on the stairs above them.

"Sorry about that." Remus sighed, "Sirius has a knack for making situations awkward and implying things. He always has." He sighed.

They walked down the hallway to find the library door, their footsteps echoing in the dark hallway. Grimmauld Place was always far from being warm and homely in the day time, but at night it seemed positively ghastly.

"Shh..." Remus said with his finger to his lips, nodding at the portait of Walburga. They were careful not to disturb her and reached the heavy wooden door, Remus tried the door and it was locked.

"Alohomora." he muttered and with that the door opened.


	2. Chapter 2

Hermione's eyes widened as they stepped into the large yet cosy room that contained a vast amount of books, a grand fireplace and comfortable-looking armchairs consisting of dark brown wood and emerald green velvet. A sturdy wooden desk complete with chair stood in the middle of the room while leaning against nearly every wall were rather large bookcases, standing almost as tall as the ones at Hogwarts.

"It's brilliant" she beamed, approaching one of the many bookcases, her eyes skimming the shelves as she heard Remus mutter an incantation and the fireplace sparkled, reflecting a calming glow upon the room. "What kind of book were you looking for, Hermione?" Remus asked curiously. "I- er, none in particular, actually... I suppose I was just hoping to find something that would interest me," she replied, her eyes still searching the shelves where neatly organised books stood. A particularly dusty book bound in black leather caught her eye, she recognised the book as a copy of one she had encountered incidentally, full of dark arts. She cringed as many more books of a similar nature greeted her eyes. "There's a lot of books on the dark arts, isn't there?" Her brows knitted in disgust.

"Indeed." She jumped, the voice not the one she expected to hear. "My family have been into that stuff for generations." Turning round, she saw Sirius who was now fully clothed, leaning in the doorway in a somewhat relaxed way. "Sirius! Do you have to keep sneaking up like that? How long have you been stood there for?" Remus frowned but Sirius ignored it, instead greeting him with a smirk. "Long enough" he laughed as he sauntered towards the chair before conjuring a bottle of firewhiskey and placing it on the desk. "Care for a drink, Moony?"

"No thankyou Sirius, and before you do, I'm not sure if offering Hermione some is appropriate."

"Let the lady answer for herself, Moony!" Sirius exclaimed, he then turned his head towards Hermione, "Care for a drink, 'Mione?" he grinned. "Er- no thank you Sirius, actually I was thinking of heading up to bed soon..."

"Oh come on 'Mione, don't let your boring Professor Moony stop you," he insisted. "I'm no longer her Professor, Sirius." Remus snapped, putting down his book.

"But just a bit, a tiny bit, shan't hurt shall it Moony?" and with that he began to pour, what Hermione certainly would not describe as a tiny bit, into 3 glasses he had conjured. "No," Remus said, biting his lip. "I really don't think this is appropriate of you, Sirius."

Sirius shot him a glare before his arm reached out and passed her the glass full of alcohol, "Thankyou," she smiled and sipped a bit, trying to find the ability to not cringe. She found the taste was sharp and bitter and burned her mouth slightly. She wasn't a drinker and had only ever succeeded in getting tipsy once or twice from wine, but she decided on drinking the firewhiskey out of politeness.

"Where's the inappropriateness in it, Moony? Merlin, stop being such a bore, like you said she isn't your student anymore. And as for books, don't you think we could do something more fun?" He smirked.

Hermione blushed, and hers and Remus' eyes widened in shock, Sirius noticed their reactions and burst out laughing, his bark like laughter echoing through the room, "Oh... Oh Merlin..." trying to stop laughing, "your faces! I meant something funner than books, infact how does poker sound?" he said, still chuckling, "What would you like to do, 'Mione?"

He had his sparkling grey eyes locked with hers, "Oh, erm, well actually I had planned on getting to bed, I actually planned to when I got in about an hour ago, but you two distracted me and..." she stopped becoming aware that she was rambling on, only just noticing her glass was near empty, _Merlin, am I drunk? _she asked herself. She didn't know, but she felt herself begin to giggle again. Sirius just grinned amusedly at her, "Giggling again Miss? So what do you say to poker?"

"Um, I-I don't know how to play poker, I don't think I do anyway" she replied confusedly, she glanced at Remus who was still sat in the armchair reading, his half full glass of firewhiskey balancing on the emerald arm of the chair.

"Mmm, how about... Truth or dare?" She noticed that Remus' eyes darted up from the book at the suggestion, in mere shock. TRUTH OR DARE? She may have been tipsy but a grown man suggesting they play _truth or dare?_ Merlin, she hadn't played that herself since 5th year, after being dared to kiss Neville by Seamus, she vowed to herself to never play again. _Although..._ how bad could it be to play with 2 men she found incredibly alluring?

"Sirius, I always thought that game was ridiculous, even at school when you used to trick me into playing. It's a strange suggestion to say the least," his frown lifted as he glanced at Hermione, "Hermione must be getting some rest soon anyway."

"Oh come on, I know it's immature but it's funny, it'll be a laugh. Can you suggest anything better?"

Remus sighed, "I'm sure Hermione's intentions weren't to spend her evening in the company with the two of us anyway..."

"Actually it's quite fun, really, all I've heard lately is Ron and Harry talking about quidditch and... girls" she sighed.

"Girls? How come Harry doesn't tell me these things, 'Mione? Which girls? Hm, Do tell," Sirius asked as he poured more firewhiskey into Hermione's now empty glass.

"Well, Harry likes Ginny, I mean, he hasn't said but it's obvious enough and, she likes him. But he hasn't said anything, Ron however has been harping on about..." she swallowed thickly, "_Lavender, _all bloody holiday." She said with a clear look of disgust on her face and in her voice.

Sirius laughed, "I'm guessing you're not fond of this Lavender?"

"Absolutely not, she's positively awful, I don't know what Ron sees in her she follows him around like a lost puppy, but she does that with a lot of the boys. She's a bit..." She tried to think of a way to put it, a less crude and malicious term... "She's a bit of a slut," the firewhiskey helped her blurt out after failing to find another term for it.

Sirius laughed again before Remus inquired, "Lavender? Brown, is it? The gryffindor with the long curly hair?"

"Yes, that's her, actually, Remus, back when you were teaching us in our third year, she had quite a big crush on you," she said. Remus frowned, "did she?" ignoring Sirius' laughter.

"She told everyone she thought you were, well rather sexy, in her words. Actually a lot of the girls said that, you'd be surprised how many of the girls had crushes on you."

"Well, I suppose Moony's dashingly handsome face," Sirius laughed, "made a refreshingly nice change from Snivellus' greasy one," Remus rolled his eyes before returning to his book. Pouring another drink, this time for himself Sirius began "say, Hermione..."

"Yes?" His eyes locked yet again with hers, keeping a straight face he asked her, "Did you find Professor Moony sexy?"

"Padfoot! You can't ask her that" Remus said, looking quite flustered. "Yes I can! Be honest 'Mione!" She blushed in a somewhat guilty manner, "Yes" she giggled, suddenly forgetting her bitterness from the short conversation about Lavender, Sirius grinned, "See Moony, she finds you sexy!"

The sandy haired man turned his attention to Sirius, after gazing at Hermione inquisitively. "No, Sirius she's just humouring me and being polite, anyway you'e got the girl as drunk as anything. I think she should go to bed."

"No! I really do find you sexy, Profess- Remus! And no! Thank you for your concern but I don't need to go to bed, not yet!" She giggled, "See she's drunk, Sirius!"

"I'm not drunk! I mean, I'm probably a l-little bit tipsy... But don't make out as if I am intoxicated Remus Lupin!" Hermione shrieked, much to Sirius' amusement, Hermione noticed that he was again, laughing insanely.

There was a loud thud followed by muttering, and their heads all snapped to look in the direction of the door, "What the hell was that?" Remus asked, in shock. Sirius had snapped out of his cheerful state and looked anxious, "Stay in here with Hermione, will you Remus? And if..." he lowered his voice, "If needed apparate yourself and Hermione to the safest place you can think."

Sirius grabbed his wand and stormed out the library door, as he opened the door the loud screaming from his mothers portrait greeted him. He clasped his wand defensively with a firm grip only to see 2 figures at the bottom of the staircase very much resembling Harry and Ron. "Harry?"

"Sirius, I- We just came to get something to eat, well to get Ron something to eat," he explained, while Ron nodded sheepishly next to him, Sirius sighed with relief, "Trip over the troll leg I'm guessing?"

"Yeah, well no, Harry pushed me into it!" Ron said, "Are there _really_ ghosts of death eaters haunting the kitchen? That hex you into next week before you can get anywhere _near_ the fridge?" Ron asked, wide eyed. "Fred and George sai..." He was interupted when Harry's elbow jolted into his ribs, "Shut up, Ron," he hissed before looking at Sirius who had a puzzled expression on his face for a split second, before responding, "No, there's no ghosts, not to my knowledge anyway. I suspect your brothers are winding you up again, Ron. It's this old hag you have to watch out for," he walked over to the painting of his mother and gladly pulled the velvet curtains shut on her.

"Sirius?" "Ah Remus, I'll be with you in a minute, appears my godson and Mr Weasley had an unpleasant encounter with my mother again."

"I suppose you should be off to bed, your mother won't be too impressed if you're not awake when they arrive tomorrow, Ron. And try to avoid the umbrella stand the next time you're sneaking around my house at this hour," he grinned. After apologising, which Sirius insisted wasn't necessary, the two went upstairs and back to their room.

A/N: I don't know how happy I am with this chapter, so I'll hopefully post a much better one, possibly tomorrow. It is my first fanfic so bare with me, I failed my English GCSE and never did like writing stories, I just needed to get these HP feels off my chest :) I have a lot of ideas for this too, I just don't know what direction to take it? Suggestions would be nice. Thanks for favs/follows, means a lot :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Warning: Contains Weasleys :)**

Returning to the library, he saw Remus sat in the armchair and Hermione sleeping on top of him, her head leant against his chest, Sirius shot him an inquistive look, Remus just shrugged his shoulders looking as bewildered as his friend did.

Hermione woke to a rather unpleasant throbbing pain in her head, she sat up and squinted her eyes as the winter sun shone through the gaps in the curtains, blinding her. "My head..." she groaned, it wasn't until she got out of bed and saw she was dressed in jeans and the deep red top which she had worn yesterday that she realised what had happened. "Blasted firewhiskey..." she cursed. Pulling the cable knit jumper over her head and searching the bedroom for a suitable top, she decided on one that hugged her figure nicely, it wasn't too revealing but enhanced her body perfectly.

After she had changed into a different pair of jeans, and replayed what she could remember of last night, the thought struck her, how did she end up in her bed last night? She had fallen asleep in the library... On top of Remus, she recalls, she sighed as she began to remember some of the embarrassing details of last night. She had called Remus sexy? Well that's certainly going to make things embarrassing for her, she struggled to remember much else. Running her hands through her hair, sighing. She picked up her hairbrush and began brushing the tousled waves and made her way downstairs.

Warm smiles and a pleasant atmosphere greeted her as she entered the kitchen, the room filled with laughter, much of it Sirius' as he chatted happily with Harry and Ron over breakfast. She said good morning to everyone and sat at the table, next to Harry. Remus, who was sat opposite her, smiled sheepishly, "How are you this morning?"

"I'm alright, I suppose, although I have a terrible headache," she responded, rubbing her temples with her hands. "Ah, I see. This might help," he slid a bar of sealed chocolate across the table towards her. He glanced at the clock before turning to Hermione again, "I would say now is your chance to put protective charms on your room, Fred and George will be here any minute" he joked.

After breakfast she followed Harry and Ron up to their room, they sprawled out on the wood floor of the bedroom, lazily playing exploding snap. She sat cross legged on Ron's bed reading her book, "You don't think that Sirius and Lupin are, well you know..." Ron paused, "Do you?" Her attention sprung from her book when she heard their names mentioned, before Hermione could ask Harry replied with a stern, "No."

"But you saw them last night, Harry..." Ron protested, "You saw how shook up Sirius was to see us and then, Lupin came out the library..." he continued "And the way they kept on looking at each other at breakfast... Harry."

"That's absolutely absurd, are you trying to insist they are romantically involved?" She saw Harry grimace.

"But there's definitely something there, 'Mione, Harry, the way they are around each other..." insisted Ron in a slightly annoying manner. Harry's brows furrowed at the exploding snap cards in his hand, "Hermione's right, Ron. It is absurd."

"Don't be so ignorant, Ronald, why should it concern you? Besides why would you even pick up on things like that?" She hissed.

She heard 2 pops from the corner of the room and turned round to see two tall ginger boys grinning at her. "Bloody hell!" Exclaimed Ron, "You almost gave me a heart attack!" They chuckled, "Alright Harry?" harped Fred and George, Harry grinned back. "Where's mum and dad?" Ron asked. "They'll be along soon" George laughed. "Yeah, they were gonna Floo here with Gin" Added Fred, "George, we best get going and make our presence known downstairs," smiling at his twin, and with 2 small pops they were gone. Harry laughed, "let's go downstairs!"

The trio made their way to the kitchen, Ron stumbled into the kitchen clumsily. Sirius was laughing as the twins told him and Remus about their latest pranks, when green flames sparked the fireplace. Arthur, Molly and Ginny weasley stepped into the room, "Harry!" Ginny beamed and embraced him in a hug, Sirius grinned. "When was the last time you cleaned this fireplace, Sirius?!" Molly inquired, brushing the soot off of her clothes, "Harry, dear" she smiled, "Hermione! Remus! How nice to see you all," she hugged Hermione, "Always a pleasure, Molly" smiled Remus.

It wasn't until he spoke to her that Hermione noticed that Mr. Weasley was sporting some sort of strange hat, strikingly similar to that of a muggles beer helmet, which she was fairly familiar with from the muggle world. She looked at the oddity inquisitively, noticing that instead of holding 2 cans of beer it held 2 glasses of Butterbeer. "What the bloody hell is that?" Ron asked, baffled. Arthur smiled, taking it in his stride, "I believe it's called... a drinking hat. A fine muggle invention" he said proudly. "Ingenous these muggles."

"A _fine_ muggle invention?" the twins sniggered.

"It's ridiculous!" Fred said. "Delirious even!" George added, Molly swattered them both across the head, only increasing their laughter, "We best get a move on," Molly stated. "Hermione, you're coming too aren't you?" She asked. "Where to?" She questioned politely. "We're just popping into London, you're very welcome to join us," she beamed "Although we'll be going the muggle way, I must warn you," ignoring Ron's groan, Hermione smiled, "Sure, what exactly do you mean the muggle way?" she asked, feeling quite stupid. "We'll be walking through muggle London to get to the Leaky Cauldron, shan't take us too long, best to throw on some warm clothes, you'll catch your death of cold unless you wrap up properly." Hermione smiled gratefully, appreciating her concern and went to retrieve her coat and scarf, both were still hanging on the coat hanger next to the front door.

Ginny ran and caught up with her, grinning. "You don't have any makeup I can borrow, do you? It's just... I forgot to bring mine with me," she giggled. Hermione knew full well that Ginny, or any of the Weasley's for that matter, owned any makeup, but she ignored Ginny's excuse and smiled, "Yes, it's all on my bedside table, whom are you trying to impress then?" She replied as she wrapped her scarf round her neck, Ginny bit her lip, "Noone" she giggled.

Harry, Hermione and the six Weasley's sauntered through muggle London, which was full to the brim with festive decoration, whether it was flashing, colourful lightbulbs on strings or extravagant Christmas trees, covered in magnificent baubles and tinsel. The trees, similar to the ones that decorated Hogwarts' every year, were the centre display of almost every street.

She wondered how odd they must look, more so Arthur Weasley, still wearing his Butterbeer helmet, she glanced at him to notice that he was smiling broadly, clearly proud to feel he was fitting in with the muggles. . They passed a plump man wearing a fake, white beard and silky red robes with a white fur trim, topped off by a hat of similar design. "Oi Fred," George piped up, "Looks as if Dumbledore's raided Dumb Krums wardrobe," and they both sniggered. "Blimey..." muttered Ron, "What's that meant to be?" he asked, staring at the jolly man, whom was surrounded by happy children, "It's Father Christmas you absolute twit," laughed Hermione. They continued walking through London, recieving a few funny looks, before they reached the Leaky Cauldron, "All this bloody walking about." complained Ron, as they stepped inside the pub, it was dark and bleak just as Hermione had remembered from her previous visits, the pub was next to _empty_, except for a couple of shabby looking, elderly wizards muttering with each other at the bar. It wasn't long before her eyes noticed a rather discreet looking man, his dishevelled cloak hung off his shoulders carelessly. He was slumped in his seat and appeared to be reading a crumpled piece of parchment.

"Hermione?" came Harry's voice, she snapped out of her stare, "Come on, quit dawdling!" Arthur called to them, already making the way to the courtyard which stood behind the back door of the pub.

After passing the brickwall, they stepped out into the familiar Diagon Alley, which was very busy, alive with the scuffling of feet treading the cobblestone paving and the chitter-chatter of students and older witches and wizards alike. "Well, I'll see you all in a couple of hours, we've got to pop into Gringotts and make a couple of other stops," Molly smiled and a few moments later her and Arthur were out of sight.

Fred and George strolled cheerfully towards Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, to the delight of many younger witches and wizards who waited outside the shop in anticipation. The man they saw in the Leaky Cauldron was still playing on her mind, "Harry, you don't think that was a..." she lowered her voice, "_death eater?, _do you?"

Harry was staring down at his feet, Hermione thought she noticed a curious expression on his face, as if he was pondering the thought in his mind, before he could answer Ron was staring at her, "Who?" he asked. "The man we passed in the Leaky Cauldron, the one with the crumpled parchment?" she responded.

"I only saw those old blokes stood by the bar," he shrugged his shoulders. "You are useless Ronald," she sighed. "Harry?" turning to him she noticed he was distracted, now concentrating on something else. Annoyed with her friends lack of interest on an important topic, "As I was _saying_..." She froze as the tall figure turned and approached them.

"What are you staring at, _Potter, _you look like you've seen a ghost," the blonde boy sneered, looking the four of them up and down. Draco Malfoy, what was _he _doing here, she thought to herself. He was possibly one of the worst people Hermione could wish to encounter during her Christmas holidays. She noticed the short, scrawny creature stood next to Draco, realising what Harry have possibly been so interested in. Harry ignored his question, "Got yourself a new house elf Malfoy?" he smirked, "Let's hope you manage to keep this one," Ron added, grinning. Draco's scowl deepened, "I don't know what you've got to be so smug about Weaselbee" sneering at the ginger haired boy, "My father got me this house elf as an early Christmas present actually," he boasted, "and no doubt you will be lucky to receive another _pathetic_ jumper knitted by your mother, if she can afford enough wool that is."

"Oh just shut up, will you?" Hermione snapped, "Really, do you always insist on being so childish?"

"Noone asked _you_ to get involved, Mudblood, although I suppose your pathetic friends are too cowardly to defend themselves," glaring at Ron in particular, Hermione tried to make eye contact with Malfoy but he refused to look at her, "I believe you're the coward, Malfoy" she laughed, and saw the small house elf tug at his dark trousers, as if suggesting they leave. Draco didn't argue with them any further, frowning but now also looking quite defeated, his pale hand slapped the house elf "Hurry." Draco ordered the creature, and Hermione felt another pang of anger as he strode off, his head held high his servant trailing behind obediently, struggling to keep up with him.

"Bloody hell, what an arse," Ron frowned, Hermione spotted a girl with long dirty blonde hair stood outside the entrance of a nearby shop, who seemed to spot them, her brown eyes suddenly widened, "Won-won!" she called, as she dashed towards Ron. Brilliant, it seemed luck was not on her side and they bumped into all of the people she disliked most today, dealing with Malfoy seemed like a joyous event opposed to being forced to spend time with Lavender. "Fancy going to look for Quidditch supplies, Won-won?" Lavender asked in a somewhat put on, soft babyish voice, as she gazed up at Ron. Hermione _knew,_ the girl had no interest in Quidditch whatsoever but acted as though she did, simply because her boyfriend did. She and Ginny exchanged an irritated look, both of them found the girl got on their nerves, Ginny mostly irked by her false interest in Quidditch. Harry just rolled his eyes at the sight of Lavender hanging onto Ron's arm possessively, but smiled all the same, "No, I'm alright, you two should spend some time together anyway, we'll see you later."

Lavender smiled, grateful to be excused from Hermione's presence, she was already tugging his arm eagerly, Ron just shrugged, "Suits yourself, see you in a bit anyway!" He said, as Lavender practically dragged him away from them. "Just look at her!" Hermione frowned. "No comment." Laughed Harry.

Hermione poked the spoon at the remaining ice cream, feeling full. She felt like a bit of a gooseberry, to be honest, after Harry and Ginny insisted they visited Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, it wasn't as busy as she had seen it over the Summer, obviously, but there were still a handful of witches and wizards in there, many of whom looked as if they may be courting. The two of them chatted merrily, while Hermione enjoyed the company of Harry and Ginny, it proved awkward for her when alone with them, she didn't have a whole lot to say, and remained fairly quiet, her mind played on the previous night... she had gotten drunk with Harry's godfather and their previous Professor, it seemed ridiculous when she put it like that, more so when she knew she was lusting both of them... She snapped out of her daydream when the door flung open, Luna Lovegood skipped in, a stack of magazines under her arm, "Luna! What are you doing here?" Ginny asked, and the doe-eyed girl waltzed towards the table the three of them sat at, smiling at them all, "I've been selling The Quibbler all morning," Hermione noticed that she still had many under her arm, "Daddy's came down with a bad case of Crumple-Horned Snorkack disease you see, it's quite like the flu but much worse, so I decided to come out and sell it instead, so he can get some rest."

"Sorry, am I hearing this right? Did you just say Crumple-Horned Snorkack disease? Wha- What's that?" Harry asked, "Quite right," Luna said sofly, "Don't worry though, it's an extremely rare condition,"

"Sorry to interupt, are you ready to order?" Mr Fortescue asked her, "Yes, huckleberry icecream, please," she told him, Ginny's face screwed up slightly, "_Huckleberry_?" she asked, "Yes, it's yummy, actually," she sat on the chair next to Hermione "Quibbler?"

"No thankyou, Luna," Hermione and Harry said, almost simultaneously. Ginny however, smiled and took a copy, flicking through the pages.

"I quite enjoy ice cream this time of the year, it's refreshing isn't it?" Luna told them as they left the parlour, stepping out into the cobbled street again. Hermione wondered how many times Luna could have mentioned Nargles during the half hour they had spent conversing with her. "It's the Nargle season, you see. It's best to warn people" she calmly insisted. What utter rot, Hermione thought to herself. "I suspect I should get going, I'll see you three soon." Smiling happily before she skipped off with the remaining copies of The Quibbler. "Interesting, isn't she?" Ginny mused. "She is. But you don't really believe all the Nargle stuff though, do you Ginny?" Hermione sighed. "I don't know, I mean it's certainly curious isn't it? Infact, a week or so ago most of my shoes went missing," The younger girl replied. Hermione laughed, "And you suspect that is of Nargles doing? It's much more likely to have been Fred and George." They wandered down Diagon Alley, and saw Ron and Lavender, arm in arm, Lavender giggling insanely. Hermione barely succeeded in keeping a frown from creeping across her face, oh how Lavender annoyed her!

After they'd all greeted each other and Ron and Lavender joined the three of them, it began to get dark, although it was still afternoon. "There you are!" Molly and Arthur approached them, "We were looking all over, Ronald!" Came the slightly infuriated voice of a flushed Molly Weasley, Arthur stood next to her, they both smiled at Lavender inquisitively, "How are you getting home, dear?" Molly asked, Ron answered for her, "Er, actually... Mum, we were gonna see if it was alright if Lavender stayed the night, I mean if it was alright with Sirius and that..." His mother clearly wasn't happy about the plan, neither did anyone else seem happy about it, Hermione noitced. "Alright, well you must ask Sirius."

Hermione was _fuming _at the idea, it was unpleasant enough sharing a dorm with her at school but she definitely wasn't too pleased about staying in a house with her while away from Hogwarts, she snored for one, and was generally untidy, irritating and a moody dormmate. She laughed to herself remembering what she had told Sirius and Remus about Lavender last night, she wanted to doubt that Sirius would ever say yes to Lavender staying the night, but had a bad feeling, that he would agree to the arrangement and grant permission that she could stay, even if it was impractical he was kind enough to say yes.

They ended up relying on the Floo Network to get them back to the Black household safely, after Arthur told them horrendous things about muggle streets at nightfall, that he had picked up from reading muggle newspapers too often. They stepped into the kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place, where Sirius and Remus sat playing Wizard's Chess at the dining table, Sirius leaped up to greet them. He would have knocked the chess set flying if Remus hadn't steadied the table with his hands. "Er, Sirius... Is it alright if Lavender stays the night?" Ron asked cautiously.

Sirius smiled sympathetically, Hermione thought, at Lavender who's head was rested on Ron's chest, "Merlin..." he sighed, "You know I'd love to say yes and all but there's not near enough space, I'm sure your mother wouldn't permit her to stay in yours and Harry's room," he glanced at Molly who had her arms folded, sternly, "And we can't have her sleeping downstairs can we? I suspect we could always conjure a bed for her in the girls room," he paused as Lavender's face drooped ungratefully, "You shall have ask Hermione and Ginny if they're alright with that arrangement, Ron."

Clever, Hermione thought, he _knew _Hermione wouldn't agree, he had merely dumped all bad doings on her and Ginny, although she was grateful, he clearly didn't want her to stay either. Ron looked at them, half pouting. "Well?" He asked, and before Hermione could think of a decent response, that didn't seem too mean, Ginny blurted out her answer, "NO!" Everyone was shocked, except for Remus and Sirius who stared at each other, Sirius blatantly trying to stifle laughter. "Ginevra Weasley!" Molly scolded, Ginny frowned "I don't care! It's my room, Sirius says it's mine and Hermione's room, we're the only ones who ever use it! I don't want _her_ in my room!" Sirius stepped in before Molly could scold her further, "She's correct, Molly. It's up to her, I guess she was a bit abrupt about it though, but nevermind," he laughed falsely, trying to take some of the much unneeded tension away. Lavender stood awkwardly in the doorway, now detached from Ron, who was trying to resasure her before she ran out the front door embarrassed. He ran after her, the tension in the kitchen remained as Molly looked like she wanted to scold both Ginny _and _Sirius.

Hermione and Ginny headed up to their room, before Sirius stopped them, "Expertly done, Gin," he laughed, commenting on her immature outburst in the kitchen, "Hermione, a word?" Hermione approved and followed him into the library, where they had been last night. Whatever could he want now, she thought to herself, she hoped he wasn't intending on offering her firewhiskey again, after her wretched headache this morning she never wanted to see the drink again.

"Thanks" she said, he looked puzzled as if in thought. "What for?"

"For not letting that wench stay, of course," she replied bitterly. "Well, where was the sense in letting her stay anyway, the silly mare. It's not as if anyone wished for her to stay, with the exception of Ron. Has she got him under a love potion perhaps?" He joked, then suddenly looked more serious, "Last night was fun, me and Moony both agreed it was nice to have female company, we haven't truly had a laugh or a good time with a woman since Harry's mother..." he sighed reluctantly, "If you would, join us in the kitchen this evening, I'll get drinks if you like..." she cringed slightly "As long as the drink isn't firewhiskey... I'm sure I'd be happy to join you both."

He chuckled, "Alright Miss Fussy, how does wine sound?" he asked, "I'm certainly not fussy! But wine sounds much better, I must get back to Ginny though, I promised to help her with some papers she had to complete on Ancient Runes, thanks again for repelling Lavender though."

After returning to her room, she was relieved that Ginny didn't even question what Sirius had wanted to discuss with her, she was too busy faffing with her hair in the mirror, the two discussed Lavender possibly more than inevitably possible, before going downstairs for dinner.

A/N: Sorry! For everyone reading for Remus and Sirius, I appologise they weren't in this chapter, I'll make up for it, though, I just wanted a chapter with other random characters in. I've tried to keep everyone in character of course, but I don't know how well I've maintained that. My favourite thing about this chapter was of course Arthur's butterbeer helmet. But I'll definitely throw in a lot of Remus and Sirius next time, I hope you enjoy this one though as I enjoyed writing it, I'm feeling evil though and resisting the urge to chuck in some death eaters and voldemort, it's definitely tempting... :)


	4. Chapter 4

Dinner at Grimmauld Place had been quite awkward, she thought. The twins returning from work had managed to lift the uncomfortable atmosphere until a slight feud broke out between Ron and Ginny, much to Mrs. Weasley's dismay. It resulted in, Ron receiving one of his younger sister's infamous bat-bogey hexes, usually this would have made her laugh, but it had proved itself not to be the greatest of entertainment at the dinner table.

She began to help Ginny with her Anicent Runes as promised, however found herself staring blankly at the textbook infront of them, before Ginny's question bought her back to reality, "Hermione? You know this one, right?" she asked, twirling her quill between her thumb and forefinger, almost impatiently, Hermione proceeded to explain the work to her but the younger girl still didn't manage to grasp it, and, Hermione ended up practically finishing the schoolwork for her, as she had done many times for Ron.

Relieved to have gotten her work out the way, the red-headed girl bounded off of her bed merrily and grabbed her bag, pulling out an assortment of treats among those, Fizzing Whizzbees, Sugar Quills and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, to name a few, followed by a set of Exploding Snap cards, Hermione raised one eyebrow curiously, "I thought we could do with some entertainment if we're to stay up late!-" Ginny smiled, "It's the holiday's after all!"

While her intents were nice, Hermione couldn't help but feel irritated, if she were to stay up late she certainly wouldn't want to spend the time playing Exploding Snap, she was unsure herself how any girl could take delight in such an unendurable game, it didn't take her interest at all although she had realised, Ginny, growing up with 6 older brothers, shared many of their hobbies or interests, which clearly clashed with her own.

"I'm tired, Gin," she lied, "I'm sure we could tomorrow, however, but tonight I really should rest," she felt a twinge of guilt for lying to someone she felt so close to, but it couldn't be helped, she reasurred herself. The time soon flew by, and she ended up humouring Ginny in a game of exploding snap, which she lost unsuprisingly. By 11pm they were both relaxed on their beds, happily talking about things as they usually did, not noticing the time pass by. It wasn't long before Ginny fell into a deep sleep and Hermione wondered how to go about leaving the room, desperately wishing not to wake the sleeping Weasley, she let out a short gasp as she almost tripped over a shoe, she glanced across the room to the bed where she noticed the girl was still fast asleep, snoring softly and oblivious to all the shuffling around as Hermione left the room, she cursed at how messy Ginny had already let the bedroom get. Considering she had only been here for a few hours it wasn't to be expected, there were already clothes, school books and a couple of pairs of shoes carelessly scattered across the floor, it already looked as if Buckbeak had invaded her bag and flung the entire contents all over the place.

She was sure everyone would be in their beds by now, _atleast she hoped_, with the exception of Remus and Sirius of course, and approached the staircase, sliding her wand out the sleeve of her jumper, "Lumos" she muttered, with that a luminous blue light lit the dark stairwell, she took a deep breath and started taking gentle steps until she reached the hallway at the bottom.

Before she even had a chance to open or knock on the kitchen door, it had been pulled open for her by Remus, she saw Sirius seated at the far end of the table, leaning the chair he sat on back onto it's two legs. He grinned at her and patted the seat next to him. She smiled unsurely as she seated herself besides Sirius, Remus sitting opposite to them.

"'Mione..." Sirius purred, "I'm afraid we've got you here under some false pretences," she felt puzzled by his tone, unsure what to expect, "And what do you mean by that, Sirius?"

"Well, what Sirius is trying to suggest is," Remus was cut off by Sirius who was laughing, "That you are absolutely delicious and neither I nor Moony can resist you much longer." Remus glared at the laughing Marauder for a split second before continuing with a sigh. "Quite so, Hermione. If it is alright there is a question we intended to pose this evening," he paused, she picked up on the mysterious look gracing his amber eyes, a look which she had been all too familiar with before, "I would have always been against the idea, up until recently, considering how much you appear to have matured, I realise it's perfectly acceptable if, of course, you agree," the werewolf was looking into her eyes cautiously.

Hermione felt well and truly quite baffled, what possibly could the two of them be on about? Realising she was yet to respond, and the room remained silent bar the gentle sound of the fire crackling, "Pardon? What do you mean exactly?" She asked, "Wh-what is it you wish to ask me?" her brows furrowed. Remus looked over to Sirius, who seemed much more relaxed, Sirius nodded, indicating his friend to continue.

"Well Hermione, it's quite simple I suppose. After last night we both came to terms with the fact that you have grown into an exceptionally desirable young woman, and your personality also reflects that..." he smiled wearily, "Sirius and myself only have so much self control..."

Sirius butted in yet again, "Oh Merlin... How I wanted you last night, but as I was reminded, it wasn't right considering the circumstances," leaning even _further _back in his chair, seemingly relieved after his confession.

"The circumstances being?" She asked, his face twitched into a mischevious half smile, "Whilst you were drunk, or just a bit tipsy as you called it. But I knew it would be wrong, and quite frankly Moony would have killed me before I was to so much as lay a finger on you," he grinned over to Remus who, looked much more relaxed than he previously had, although she still had great trouble reading his facial expression, she found herself staring at them wide-eyed, a loss for words. While she had lusted them, yes both of them, she would never consider the possibility they would return such feelings. Remus broke the silence, "Of course, we would only wish to pursue this if you were completely willing, and sober, that is."

"Not to mention it is almost the full moon, and Remus is, well the way I would put it is he's doing an exceptionally well job of keeping himself as composed as he has, especially around you. But it would never harm to give into the wolfish desires, would it now, Moony?"

Remus smiled guiltily, "Well no, Sirius, that's right, it wouldn't..." Hermione saw his Adam's apple bob in his throat as he swallowed.

Hermione couldn't completely believe what she had been hearing, it was half expected of Sirius' anyway, she was used to how flirtatious he was, by nature. Although the two of them argued occasionally, there had been a lot of playful banter between her and the older man, she assumed he meant nothing by it, though she enjoyed it all the same. Of course she never did expect to receive an... Offer, should she call it, off of a man so handsome, she knew that he would hardly hesitate to cross any lines. But Remus, it did seem totally out of character, she has always viewed him as friendly yet shy, slighly withdrawn even, and around the full moon she had often witnessed him become short-tempered and even a bit aggressive, but had not known him to be much like Sirius in other respects, believing he merely viewed her as his previous student. However the coming full moon was probably partially to blame. She felt stuck for a response, she had never been at such a loss for words.

"I- Well, Sirius what about Harry?" She asked, hoping to change the topic.

Smiling almost sadly, his eyes lowered to the wooden flooring below him before they flashed up again, Remus answered her question "Personally, I do believe Harry has more to worry about right now."

"I suppose you are right, Moony. Besides, what Harry doesn't know shan't hurt him, right?" Sirius asked, wanting reasurrance.

"Not that this _should_ hurt him at all, Padfoot, I do highly doubt he would be concerned about it, let alone hurt."

Hermione smiled awkwardly, feeling uncomfortable, "I'm not sure." She sighed, "I just don't think it's a good idea, certainly not under these conditions," she shifted in her seat, "If, I was a few years older, then maybe, but-"

"We're too old?!," Sirius laughed, shaking his head.

"No! It isn't like that, not at all. You're neither too old," she smiled, "It's just, I suppose I feel too young..."

"Hermione Granger, too young? You definitely don't act it!" Sirius teased, "Or look it, actually." Remus added with a heartily smile.

"Well no..." She blushed, "as flattered as I am, I should probably tell you, I'm a virgin," she swallowed, feeling more than awkward as both men gazed at her with interest, almost shocked, "I jus-"

"What?! Could have fooled me!" Exclaimed Sirius.

She frowned, "Are you trying to imply that you think I'm a slut? Because if you are, you are most mistaken!" She snapped, suddenly feeling hot-headed and a fair amount of anger towards the dark haired man sitting next to her.

"Of course not!" He tried to place his hand on hers which was resting on the wooden dining table, almost calmingly, but she pulled her hand from his, annoyed. He sighed at the rejected gesture and continued "I just happened to notice, that you get on with the, er, male variety, awfully well and... Like we have already stated you are most desirable, any man would have trouble resisting especially when you-" he tried to defend himself, he stopped when he had realised he was only digging a bigger hole for himself, causing the witch to have even more reason to be infuriated with him.

Remus sighed, "Ignore Sirius, as you probably know far too well, he tends to be clumsy with his words. It was just partially unexpected that's all, taking into account how you have grown up. We should have realised, that's all. Granted, if we had knew we wouldn't have asked..."

"Mm... I suppose you are saving yourself, until you find someone you love dearly?" Sirius teased, his sparkling grey eyes meeting hers.

"No! Actually, I'm not. Will you _stop _assuming things, you are becoming almost as bad as Ron," she huffed.

He grinned at her response, wide-eyed, "So, what is it then?"

She was far from being like Lavender, or any other girl from school who would frequently boast of their sexual conquests, resulting in being branded as sluts. Despite this, she couldn't help but be ashamed of her lack of experience, "I'm yet to recieve a decent offer," after admitting that she realised what she had said, luckily neither of them were the type to be offended, infact they seemed more _amused._

"And we're not a decent offer, Hermione?!" Sirius laughed

"You're a great offer," she smiled humbly, "but I can't help but feel it would be awfully wrong of me."

"Hate to brag but I'm sure I could make you change your mind," he winked, and turned to Remus who seemed engulfed by ther conversation intrigued by how the two of them interacted, he didn't fail to notice how uncomfortable Hermione had seemed though, and decided to step in, "I think you have pestered the poor girl enough for tonight, Padfoot," he smiled, "Hermione, what exactly has Ron assumed?" he asked, looking interested.

She blushed, "I- Oh it's nothing really," she remembered what Ron had said and wondered how it could be true, she, as a rule was very observant, it did seem unlikely Ron could notice something which, she has failed to, but she laughed inwardly at the thought of the two of them, Remus and Sirius, as a couple. Surely they couldn't be, both men noticed her strange expression and seemed curious to learn more, "You can tell us, Hermione," Remus said gently.

"Well, you are going to laugh I'm sure but he made an awfully peculiar suggestion this morning that, Professor Lupin and Sirius were, in a way romantically involved," before she had finished the sentence, Sirius' bark like laughter echoed the kitchen, and Remus was laughing also. Sirius stopped, flushed slightly from his laughter, "Damn Molly's percpetive eye, I do hope he's the only one to inherit it!"

"W-wait, so you are?" She asked, shocked, they both seemed pleasantly amused by the suggestion, still fighting back laughter.

"Not quite," Remus smiled, "Although he was right to notice something, as last night when you fell asleep in the library it appears him and Harry decided to venture downstairs to the kitchen, Ron managed to stumble into the umbrella stand-"

"The bloody klutz," Sirius laughed fondly.

"And as you can imagine, he woke Mrs. Black, her usual nonsense unfolded and Sirius went to check everything was ok, I popped out the room briefly to see what was happening and I suppose Ron's suspicions had arose from that event. Not helped by Sirius' usual eye contact with me, at the table the next morning,"

She laughed with them, "Well that makes a fair amount of sense, but I was meaning to ask you, how did I end up in my bed this morning?"

"Well clearly, we weren't planning on just leaving you in the library, we did contemplate on waking you but decided on simply returning you to your room," he answered, "Remus had to carry you actually," he laughed.

The three continued to talk into the small hours of the morning, the original conversation seemed long forgotten and she was soon enjoying both their company, feeling safe and assured by them.

Before she went to bed, Remus offered to make her hot chocolate again, she accepted politely and drank it at the table, she couldn't imagine Ron would ever bother so much to make her or even his current girlfriend Lavender a drink, but neither would many of the boy's at Hogwarts. It was one of the things she appreciated most about the werewolf was that, he was thoughtful, she appreciated the small things he did, and since being at her own home for a very short period of time over the Summer, she couldn't imagine the last time she had felt so looked after.

"Accio chess set" Remus muttered, summoning the Wizard's Chess set that sat on a cabinet besides the dining table just before she went to bed. Finding it odd of them to consider playing chess this late she joked, "Do you _ever_ sleep?!"

Remus' reply came out quite seriously, "Not really, no, atleast not on the nights leading up the full moon, when the wolf is exceedingly restless, it's unpleasant to say the least," he sighed as he watched the chess pieces arrange themselves.

"Oh. I'm sorry, Remus..." she apologised.

"No bother, Hermione," he replied, smiling. "And do remember the offer is always there," Remus assured her.

"Indeed it is, 'Mione, just avoid giving anyone reason to suspect anything, although I know how nosy the Weasley's and my Godson can be," Sirius grinned cheekily, his grey eyes twinkling, one from behind a strand of dark hair.

She felt elated but still confused about the strange offer she had received, not knowing if they had simply been winding her up or not. It didn't seem likely they _would_ but it didn't stop her from questioning it. It was also unlikely she would be getting a wink of sleep, for she merely lay in her bed tossing and turning, going over the situation in her head.

A/N: Mmm... Am I dragging this on too much? I don't want to rush anything, but I have a few good ideas coming along.

I have a fair few follows on this story now, which I appreciate, but I'd appreciate it even more if you left a review, whether it's constructive critiscm, a suggestion, anything :)


	5. Chapter 5

Despite the fact she was unable to sleep, and must have had 3 or 4 hours of it at the most, she woke up at 7am, much earlier than anyone else had. Ginny was still sleeping peacefully and she had guessed that the boys would be doing the same, and were likely to stay like that for a few more hours. Mr and Mrs Weasley would be awake by now, she was sure of that, but she was unsure whether Remus or Sirius would be.

Not wanting to risk feeling like an intruder of sorts, roaming the house at this early in the morning she read until 8am, barely able to pay her book any concentration, before she went downstairs and entered the kitchen.

Remus and Sirius sat at the table, too indulged in discussion to say anything more than a half-hearted good morning to her while Molly prepred breakfast, "You're up early dear," she smiled warmly.

"Yes, she is up terribly early isn't she Molly?" Sirius tone' playful, his eyes twinkling, "Much better than your lot and my lazy Godson," he laughed, before turning back his attention to Remus, going back to speaking in much more serious tones.

"I suppose," Molly smiled, passing Hermione a cup of tea. Hermione sat at the table opposite the two men and unthinkingly reached for Ginny's discarded copy of The Quibbler and skimmed through it adverting her eyes from wandering upon Sirius and Remus.

"Fucking hell." Sirius sighed as he slammed his hand down on top of the letter lying on the table. She almost jumped out of her skin, looking up from the segment she was reading in The Quibbler, "What is that?" she asked, staring across at the crumpled parchment on the table.

"Dumbledore." Sirius muttered miserably. "He is hosting a party... Tomorrow evening, it seems."

"Christmas Eve, then?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, well noted," he replied, in a dry and irritable tone before sighing again, "Come on Padfoot, it won't be that ba-"

"Yes it bloody will be! So tell me then, are you looking forward to spending Christmas Eve with Mad-Eye and Snivellus, Moony?!" His voice was raised and he genuinely did appear to be losing his temper.

"It does seem quite fun actually, Sirius" Hermione reassured him, laughing.

"Far from it," Sirius scoffed in response.

Remus rolled his eyes, "As I said before, Albus has stated you are only required for a short amount of time-"

"Exactly, _required!_ Not even invited! It's the whole concept of it, Remus. Does the man not think I may want to be spending my Christmas Eve elsewhere rather than running _errands _and such?"

"I would say more required _and _invited, but that is not your real reasoning is it, Sirius? If Albus wishes to speak with the Order- more so, you, shortly it must be something important. Seeing as he has no time for a proper meeting to be arranged," the werewolf's brows furrowed a considerable amount.

"I _know_ what it's about, Remus! And I wish for no part in it!" Sirius shouted, his eyes filled with anger.

"Sirius!-" Remus snapped, "Enough! Both of you," Came Molly's voice, "What must poor Hermione think of you both!"

Remus calmed down, looking like a scolded puppy, Sirius remained looking just as enraged but stayed silent. Molly looked at them and sighed, before turning to Hermione, smiling, "Hermione dear, wake Ginny and the boys, breakfast is ready," she asked.

Only Molly Weasley could silence two full grown men, she laughed inwardly at the thought as the left the room, although she couldn't deny the fact that both of them could unnerve her when they were angry. Both could be quite hot-headed and she couldn't help but see the angry, almost crazy flashes in Sirius' eyes, the same that she had seen when he had confronted Peter Pettigrew the first time the trio met him shortly after his escape from Azkaban.

However, Sirius was soon to cheer up when his Godson had woken and took his usual seat in the kitchen, him and Ron still yawning and stretching, "Harry" he piped up, "this may be of interest to you" he smiled, passing him the letter from Dumbledore.

"A party?" Harry beamed reading the letter, "Brilliant!" Ron mused, grabbing the plate full of toast from the middle of the table before Harry reached the end of the letter, "But why does Dumbledore want to speak to you?"

Sirius sighed through his smile, "Order business, Harry... Shouldn't be anything too important" he muttered.

"Where's dad?" Fred asked, "Oh he's just had to pop into the Ministry, why? He should be home soon," Molly replied, "No reason," George said, grinning mischeviously at his twin who appeared to be stirring something into the pot of tea. Hermione noticed that Mr Weasley wasn't the only one missing at breakfast, and Remus' absence concerned her. After breakfast she decided to slip out the kitchen to look in the room she thought he was likely to be in; the library.

When she opened the door he wasn't reading, he was instead sat in the armchair, an almost brooding look on his face. "Hermione?"

She took a deep breath, "Remus," she smiled warily. "I should appologise, about earlier-" he said, "No, no you shouldn't, it's fine. But what was that about, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I suppose it's not exactly my place to say..." he sighed, and he took his eyes off the floor and looked at her, leaning forward in his chair, "Albus requires both the help of Sirius and Professor Snape after the new year, a task almost. Of course, Sirius isn't pleased, and it's unlikely Snape will be too pleased about the situation but-"

"What sort of task?" She frowned, "Is it anything dangerous? Why Sirius and Snape?"

Remus smiled, "No, nothing too dangerous we should hope. Sirius and Snape, I can only assume that, for some reason they are the most suitable candidates..."

"But they... Dislike each other don't they?" She asked.

"Well, you could say that yes. Why he couldn't choose anybody else I'm not too sure, but it's only a minor task for the two, mostly requiring information from them, that's all, I don't know a great deal about it to be honest with you," he tried to change the subject, "So, have you given it any thought? The conversation we had last night..."

"N-no, no I haven't," she lied, feeling caught off guard by the question, although she _had_ thought about it, quite a lot. But right now she was more interested in finding out what exactly Dumbledore asked of Sirius, "Is the task strictly private?"

"For the moment, only Dumbledore and Sirius know all the details, what I do know is all that I have told you, I believe Dumbledore intends on telling Snape and the rest of the Order tomorrow evening, but apart from that strictly private, yes." He hesitated, "You could speak to Sirius about it, when he comes round that is."

They were interupted by Ginny's voice, "Hermionnneeeeeee!" she called, Hermione rolled her eyes to Remus, "One moment Ginny!"

"Best not keep her waiting," Remus chuckled, picking up a book. Hermione approached the door, "Thankyou, Remus" she smiled.

"Hermione!" Ginny called again, and Hermione ran upstairs to the bedroom, to see Ginny sat on her bed with what looked like pale pink and green rags, after a moment she recognised these as the evening gown Ginny had worn to the Yule Ball. She stared in shock, "Ginny!" she exclaimed, "what ever are you doing?!"

Ginny cringed. "Adjusting this for the party, of course!" She said, "Give us a hand will you, Hermione?"

"Well I can't say I'm the best seamstress," she laughed, "can you not ask your mum?"

"She would kill me if she sees it like this!" Ginny protested, "And anyway she would make it much too grannyish... I was thinking you could use transfiguration maybe, as the scissors weren't a great idea..."

"Transfiguration? I'm terrible at it, unless you would like to look like you're wearing a hippogriff, anyway," she laughed, "Scissors it is."

After spending only an hour or two on Ginny's dress, using only a pair of scissors and a needle, Hermione had to admit that their finished product was quite something, they had transformed it into a beautifully fitting thigh length dress, and it was now unrecognisable.

"Oh it's lovely, Gin" Hermione smiled as Ginny tried the dress on in the mirror, equally impressed by their sewing and cutting skills, "I love it" Ginny beamed, twirling round in the mirror admiring the dress, "Now we've sorted that, what are you going to wear Hermione?"

"Oh, probably just this dress I bought in the Summer when I went shopping with my mum," she said, "it's nothing too jaw-dropping but it's suitable," she said.

"Do you have it with you now? Try it on then!" Ginny insisted, and Hermione changed into the black dress, feeling uncertain about it, she hadn't worn it before and wasn't too certain if she liked it or not, it was quite a simple sleeveless, skater-style type dress, the only detail being the cut out hips, it was quite a familiar styled dress for her to see in the muggle world she was bought up in, but wasn't exactly the type of dress to be classed as fashionable in the wizarding world.

"Oh wow!" Ginny squealed, "It's amazing, Hermione!"

"Do you think? I wasn't too sure, it was actually one my mum suggested-" Hermione said uncertaintly.

Ginny laughed, "You're so lucky! My mum would never let me wear anything as nice as that, it really is lovely, do you know how you're having your hair?"

"I'm not sure! It doesn't really matter does it? It's not exactly a formal event... Is it?" She asked. Ginny shrugged, "I think it might be, but anyway we might aswell make the most of it! I'll do your hair if you like," she offered.

The rest of the day passed quite fast, and smoothly, without any arguments at all thankfully, and ended with everyone chatting in the kitchen all evening, and with Hermione managing to get an early night for once.

A/N: Thankyou for the reviews! :) I appreciate it! My boyfriend is back from uni and I've hardly got any writing done, luckily I can easily distract him with the PS3 sometimes though, he's also ridiculing me for finding Lupin attractive, I think the funniest part was him saying he would see the point if I found Draco or Ron attractive haha, I hope that wasn't his way of saying he fancies them! :/ We went to see The Hobbit finally and it was brilliant, almost gives Harry Potter a run for it's money, not quite though! Anyway let's think of this as half a chapter, it's all I had chance to write for now but I wanted to update. I'll hopefully get a chance to write the rest either later on or tomorrow! Remember keep the feedback coming, and I hope you're all having an enjoyable Christmas holidays yourselves :)


	6. Chapter 6

"You both look, wow... Amazing." Harry said from the doorway of the bedroom in his shirt and tie. He was smiling at both of them, but Hermione was glad to see he focused mainly on Ginny, looking at her with such affection that it made Hermione herself feel happy, she smiled as they headed downstairs.

The rest of the Weasley's were in the hallway with Sirius and Remus, she saw the twins smirk at the sight of her and George nudging Fred, however Sirius and Remus were much more discreet, Sirius briefly winking at her, smiling. "How are we getting there, Molly?" Remus asked.

"Well, by the state of Sirius' fireplace," she sighed, "I suggest that we apparate to Hogsmeade, Ginny you go with Fred an-" and before she could finish the twins had grabbed their younger sister and disappeared, causing everyone left to laugh, "Remus, you go with Hermione-" Remus nodded.

"Sirius?" Sirius inquired impatiently, "Remus, Sirius, both go with Hermione," she smiled, "I trust that Harry and Ron can apparate themselves there?" Remus asked.

Ron looked at Harry waiting for his answer, "Yes, that's fine," Harry smiled, Molly returning a warm smile, "And me and Arthur will make our own way there too." And Hermione held on to Sirius' and Remus' arms, and with a single pop and disoriented feeling, they were standing in the dark but busy street in Hogsmeade, mostly busy with women, men, girls and boys all in formal clothing making their way to Hogwarts, she assumed.

She saw Sirius' shake his head as if to snap back into a more oriented mind, "I've always hated that" he groaned. She shivered as they walked towards the castle, Hogwarts' looked as festive as usual except for there being no snow yet this year, when they entered the Great Hall which was now more or less a spacious ballroom decorated beautifully, a grand Christmas tree standing at the back of the room and there being a few tables, seating and such scattered in one end of the room.

"Miss Granger, Mr Lupin," Dumbledore suddenly appeared next to them, smiling as he greeted them "Sirius, my boy, I do appologise for interupting, but as you know I wish to speak with you as soon as ideally possible," he smiled, his eyes twinkling, "It won't take long, the rest of the Order are in my office waiting. Remus, you may stay here with Hermione, I'm sure Sirius would be good enough to inform you of the plans later on, in the privacy of headquarters."

Sirius and Dumbledore left and Hermione looked around the hall, seeing many people she recognised- Mostly 6th years and 7th years, some with parents, a handful of Professors but she also saw a lot of older people she didn't know, she was yet to see Harry or any of the Weasleys. Remus eventually snuck an arm around her waist almost making her jump, before the much taller man looked down at her with a small smile, "You look stunning, Hermione" he said, she blushed, "Well, I don't agree but-"

"Shh, you do. Even more so than usual" he smiled, silencing her, and they walked over to a table of punch and various other drinks, she felt terrible but couldn't help feeling embarrassed passing people in her classes as she had their ex-Professor's arm round her.

Harry approached them, a shocked look on his face as he saw Lupin's arm around Hermione, "Er-," he began, "Ron wants to speak to you," he said awkwardly.

She sighed, "What exactly does he want?" Harry shrugged, "I don't know, Hermione,"

She laughed outright, "I don't exactly plan on doing much dancing, Harry, if that's what he wants," she turned to look at Remus whom looked deep in thought, "Tell him I will speak to him later," she said, cringing and Harry smiled apathetically before leaving them to find Ginny.

Sirius suddenly returned, in a cheerful mood surprisingly. Remus sighed, "How did that go?" he asked, puzzled at Sirius being so upbeat, thinking the task Dumbledore had set must have been cancelled. "Great, actually. Why would I bother being angry about a greasy bat like Snape? When I could be enjoying myself?" He asked, happily. "Out of sigh, out of mind, he's already buggered off back to those dungeons," he laughed.

"Ron's looking for you, by the way, 'Mione," Sirius told her. "I know he is," she sighed, "I'll speak to him later I guess-"

"Go now," Sirius smiled, "I have to speak to Moony so you best get it done with, he seems pretty insistent," he chuckled, she sighed again, "Okay, but you'll both meet me back her-"

"We'll both meet you back here in precisely 10 minutes." Remus smiled reassuringly before they both left the Great Hall and Hermione looked around for Ron, what _ever_ could he want? She thought to herself as she weaved her way through the witches and wizards filling out the hall. After almost being tripped up by Neville, more so Neville's ridiculously ill-fitting shoes, she spotted 3 heads of messy red hair, she froze before walking over to the three of them.

"Hermione, er, brilliant you're here," Ron said uncertainly, "can I speak to you- about... something?" he asked, and she saw Fred and George sniggering, George raising an eyebrow amusedly before they dismissed themselves.

"_Yes?_ Go on then, that's what I came over for," she snapped and he looked uncomfortable, "Lupin, Hermione..." he paused awkwardly, "What the hell is that all about? He's a bit... Old don't you think?"

"I don't know _what_ you are trying to say to me, Ron" she hissed. "But I can assure you that he's merely a frien- acquaintance even," she scowled before looking down at her drink in her hand, hesitatingly, "Besides... he's _hardly_ old, well not really. Would you consider Sirius as old? I'm sure Harry wouldn't,"

"Well, no, bu- that's Sirius," he protested, looking a bit tongue-tied, "Lupin is... He acts old, and like... It's weird Hermione," he frowned.

The annoyance was gradually welling up inside of her, "Well I happen to think he's quite fun, and interesting. I don't know why you're complaining, he has been of much better company than _you_ have over the holidays," she huffed, before feeling quite regretful realising how harsh her words had been.

"Fair enough," he sighed, looking defeated, "I was only saying... Anyway... So did you plan on meeting anyone here?"

"No, obviously not you twit," she forced a smile, "And what about you?"

He grimaced, "Lavender," he muttered, "I don't know what to do about her 'Mione- she's getting a bit... odd don't you think?" She too, cringed at this, not wanting to bad mouth Lavender to Ron and agree. "How?" she asked, and before he had a chance to answer they were interupted by Seamus who began chatting with Ron, she sighed, happy to have a chance to leave their conversation before it became too gauche and uncomfortable.

She glanced round trying to find Sirius or Remus, and she spotted Sirius stood by the drinks, holding a glass and seemingly looking round the room, as if searching for her or Remus, she wondered why Remus wasn't with him and went over to him, "There you are," he grinned, "Have you seen Remus anywhere?"

"No, I haven't," she replied bewilderedly, "I thought he was with you?"

"Well-" he rolled his eyes, "he _was_ but I got talking to Harry and Ginny and told him to go on and find you, I thought he would be with you by now" he shrugged and sipped his drink.

"Oh, well that's strange," she replied. "It is, isn't it? But he'll show up I suppose," he laughed, "do you want another drink?" his grey eyes had the familiar mischevious look which she had grown use to. "Sure" she laughed.

After half an hour had passed, they still hadn't seen Remus, Hermione wasn't too concerned, knowing that he must simply be caught up talking to somebody or other. Her and Sirius shared a few laughs as they drank the drinks they helped themselves to.

Suddenly, Sirius pulled her down next to him, "You look beautiful tonight, 'Mione" he whispered into her hair, she laughed and was shocked when his fingers found the cut outs on the hips of her dress, and he started tickling the bare flesh. "Sirius!" She protested through her giggles, but he only pulled her closer to him, almost into his lap, tickling her even more. This earned the two of them quite a few strange, maybe disapproving looks, but for once she didn't even care. And she was pretty sure neither did Sirius, "You're _terrible_!" she told him.

"Ah, is my blasted cousin hogging Moony again?" Sirius laughed, and Hermione noticed that Remus and Tonks were stood only a few feet away from them, "Shall we go and get him?"

"No, no," Hermione objected, "They look like they're probably having a nice time, Sirius. Leave them be" she smiled but Sirius had other plans, he ignored her, instead putting his arm around her and began ushering her towards the metamorphagus and the werewolf, "She used to have a crush on him, when she was younger. Funny isn't it?" he chuckled fondly.

"W-what? I thought she stil did?" Hermione blurted out, confused. Sirius looked at her as if she had grown another head, "Oh! No, not at all. Actually, from what I've heard, Nymphadora has been seeing an Irish bloke that she met when she was in Auror training, he's an Auror too, of course. I don't know too much about him though," he said hastily.

He smiled at his cousins daughter, "Nymphad-" Her hair flashed from being blonde to a violent shade of purple, "Tonks, Sirius."

"Tonks," he corrected, and she smiled at him gratefully, before smiling at Hermione, "What's going on here?" She asked with a wink.

"Ha-ha-ha," Sirius responded, sarcastically. "I was going to ask you two the same question! Tut tut tut, Moony! I thought you knew my cousin was forbidden fruit!" He joked. "We were just catching up-" Remus smiled, and Tonks rolled her eyes at Sirius who was acting impatient, "I'll let you go," she grinned.

Hermione sat down with Remus and Sirius for a while, she tried to keep an eye on what she was drinking, trying not to get too drunk. She smiled looking at the happy couples on the dance floor, only being familiar with a few of them though, namely Neville and Luna, Ginny and Harry, and a few other 7th years she knew.

The evening quickly passed and everyone seemed like they enjoyed themselves, but of course no celebration at Hogwarts goes without _some _disaster, mainly, Ron spilling firewhiskey all down Lavender's dress, and her making a soap opera worthy scene before dramaticlly leaving Ron stood in the middle of the Great Hall like an idiot. But mostly the evening went smoothly, and everyone agreed it was too risky to apparate back to Grimmauld Place, so they had to use the Floo Network.

Hermione and Ginny went to bed, along with almost everybody else except the two men she had spent over half her night with. And Hermione had a plan to spend even more time with them, she decided once Ginny was asleep, she would slip out of bed, slip her dressing gown off which she still wore her evening dress underneath and ad she would go downstairs.

She wasted time standing on the staircase, feeling nervous and not wanting to suddenly burst in, after a few minutes had passed she reached the bottom of the stairs and was shocked to see Remus coming out the kitchen, he smiled, "Hermione..."

"Remus... I-"

And suddenly he had pushed her to the wall and kissed her, she froze for a moment before kissing back. While she enjoyed every moment of it she also couldn't help but feel nervous, her heart pounding in her chest. He stopped kissing her and looked at her, before moving his kisses to her neck, "Hermione... Please... Let me" he growled, "Let me take you... Please"

She blushed several shades of pink, "Actually, that's why I'm here... to... accept the offer-"

"I know, Hermione. I could smell your arousal," he growled softly, planting more eager kisses on her neck. She then noticed Sirius stood in the doorway, laughing, "So could I..." he paused, "Canine senses," he said with a smug smirk playing on his lips.

A/N: *Sigh* I do think I'll have to find the time to refine my writing skills sometime soon lol. But Merry Christmas guys :)


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